When the Cat’s Away

The guilty pleasures we only partake in by ourselves

Morgan Packard

Today my husband leaves for two different trips (a music festival and a conference) back to back that take him out of state for 10 days. While I already miss him terribly and will miss the things we do together, I find myself also excited – excited to do things that I don’t tend to do when he’s around.

When I was younger and my father would go out of town on business, my mother and I would do special things together, like eating breakfast for dinner and watching all the Omen movies back to back. When Mom would leave town, Dad would make his “special” sloppy Joe that, to me, stunk up the entire house for days, and we would watch shows that Mom didn’t approve of, like South Park.

When you’re used to living with someone else (whether a spouse, partner or roommate) and you get to have your house all to yourself, it’s time to wallow in your favorite guilty pleasures. Here are some of mine:

1) Binge-watching shows that Mike has no interest in:season 2 of Orange is the New Black,Penny Dreadful, Sherlock, Pretty Little Liars …

3) Eating things that are bad for me or that feel like real indulgences (my husband cooks like a five-star chef every night, which is amazing, but sometimes I just want trashy food): La Madeline, Taco Bell, frozen pizzas …

4) Organizing. This is something that he has offered to help me with and to do with me, but cleaning up my things – like jewelry, clothing, underwear, shoes – I want to do on my own while rocking out to 1980s pop.

5) Reading and playing video games in bed (like eating crackers in bed, there are some things best done by one’s self).

6) Walking around naked, or in that one pair of old boxers that’s about to fall apart, or in that pair of favorite sweat pants that no one else should ever see – and probably be thrown out, if I didn’t love them so much.

If you have indulgences you only allow yourself when you’re alone, I’d love to hear about them and get more ideas; please leave them in the comments.

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about

Morgan Packard may not be a native New Orleanian, but with every passing day New Orleans becomes more her home. Attending Newcomb College and gaining her masters from Tulane University, Packard immersed herself in the culture and peculiarities of the Big Easy, the culmination of which was reached when she joined the staff of Renaissance Publishing in May 2006. You can reach Morgan at (504) 830-7227 or morgan@myneworleans.com.